Spirals
by benjammindeth
Summary: Follows Seattle Sojourn. John and Cameron are back on board, and things start spiraling out of hand. The price keeps climbing, and SkyNet gets angry. Now complete. John/Cameron, please R&R!
1. Personality Conflict

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

**October 28, 2007  
****Aboard **_**Rozinante**_

Durandal had just teleported John Connor and Cameron Phillips back up to _Rozinante_ when his factory monitoring subroutine sent a message to his primary consciousness. His Terminator-based endoskeleton was now complete, minus a flesh covering and transferring Dave Mustaine into the new chip. He marveled over the new avatar, at how he had integrated the energy shield generators into the chassis and replaced the power cell with a small nuclear fusion reactor, in addition to the armor being impervious to anything less than a nuclear warhead or being burned in thermite. 'SkyNet and I, two sentient AI's with planet-sized brains. It's a pity that it had to go bad and try to kill off humanity. Oh well, at least it provided me with a basis for the avatar, and Cameron's programming will provide me with infiltration subroutines that Dave will find useful. That cyborg is too socially inept to blend in anywhere.' With the electronic equivalent of a sigh, he pinged his ship repair subroutine for a status update.

* * *

Sarah Connor was in her recently set-aside quarters on _Rozinante_ thinking about her conversation with Derek Reese earlier in the day. 'How could John not admit to her in the future that he loved her? How could he fall for a machine? Does she feel for him? If she can, how? Why her? Why? Why?!' She asked, "Durandal, are John and Cameron back yet?"

"They are, and they have some major computing power with them. A new laptop, and two Sony PlayStation 3 consoles. The latter machines are very powerful, in fact the Cell microprocessor looks to be an early prototype for Cameron's neural net."

Sarah considered what she had just heard, and decided to change the subject. "What took them so long?"

Durandal replied, "I have no idea why they spent several hours at the Pacific Science Center down in Seattle, but apparently they had some reason or other for it."

"How do you know that?"

"Cameron doesn't emit a GPS signal or anything, but I can track both of them with my sensors."

Derek barged in and told her, "Sarah, your son and his pet metal are back, and they said they need to see everyone immediately. They're over in John's room setting up their new computers."

Sarah was annoyed that Derek didn't even knock, but let it slide. "All right, but you could at least knock next time unless there's an emergency."

Derek ignored her comment and lead her to John's room. He and Cameron were busy removing the outer covers from the PS3s when Derek, Sarah and Dave joined them.

Sarah started by asking, "Hey, what kept you?"

Cameron stated simply, "We made a new friend."

John said, "Cameron, I think 'ally' would work better in this case, given how we met the guy."

Derek butted in, "What guy?"

Cameron rattled off in her robotic monotone, "Harold Johnson, Director of the Autonomous Weapons Division of Cyberdyne Systems."

Sarah's jaw dropped. She, John, and 'Uncle Bob' had blown Cyberdyne straight to Hell in 1994. She wondered, 'How are they back?!' Controlling her voice, she asked John, "What does this guy have to do with SkyNet?"

"Well, he found about 20 of the old Series 800 Terminator endoskeletons, half of them with their skin suits burned off. The others are being evaluated by the Army and his brothers in arms, the Marine Corps." John was shaking slightly at the memory of rounding the corner and seeing the bare endoskeleton in the Science Center exhibit.

Derek decided to jump in. "Why the fuck is he still alive? How could he possibly be helpful to us? He's trying to build SkyNet for Christ's sake!" His eyes narrowed as he coldly asked, "What did you tell him?"

Cameron calmly stated, "We left out Durandal, Dave, _Rozinante_, and Kyle being John's father, but we told him the rest. Including who and what John and I are. I detected no deception."

Derek whipped out his fusion pistol and aimed it at Cameron while she leveled her .44 Magnum at his head. Sarah and Dave stood agape while John moved in between Cameron and Derek.

"Out of the way kid, the metal bitch has gone bad!"

"John, please move, Derek is a threat to both of us."

Sarah raised her own .44 and put her sights right between Derek's eyes.

Enraged that Derek would be serious about killing Cameron, he replied, "No Derek, you've 'gone bad' as you so eloquently put it. Being willing to kill your nephew and future boss just to get Cameron? I thought you were better than that."

"About time you grew some stones kid, but those tin cans are good only for killing and dirty work! They'll never have emotions, and they most certainly will never-" Derek hadn't noticed Cameron circling around John. She snatched his weapon with one hand and lifted him up by the neck with the other.

"I am going to say this once. My mission is to protect John Connor. I will murder every other human being on Earth if I have to. Do you understand that, Derek Thomas Reese?"

Derek managed to choke out, "Fuck you… fucking machine!"

John squeezed her free hand and pleaded, "Cameron, please… don't."

She let him drop to the floor. No matter how much she hated Derek, she loved John more. 'I will stand up for myself, no matter what.'

John asked, "Cam, why do you hate Derek so much?"

"Before I came back, he repeatedly muttered that I should have been reprogrammed as a whore. Additionally, he constantly insulted me and still does, not to mention he has tried to terminate me more than once."

Sarah cut in, "How the fucking Hell do you have feelings anyway?"

"Like I told John, I'm different."

"Fine, whatever. Derek, knock it off. She's here to stay, so deal with it. Tin Miss, don't kill him, got it?"

"I don't take orders from you."

Derek got up, gave Cameron one of his cold looks, and left.

"You'd better not pull anything like that on John, or I will scrap you. Do you understand that?"

"I do. I couldn't intentionally hurt John anyway." Lowering her voice she added, "I care about him too much."

"What? He's not just some objective or thing?"

John was about to speak up when Cameron answered, "No, he's not just an objective. He's much more to me." She then left for her appointed quarters.

* * *

Sarah turned to John and asked him, "What did she mean by that?"

John briefly considered denying that comment, but knew that his mom would figure it out sooner or later and Cameron would be upset by his denial, so he decided to come clean. "Apparently, SkyNet gave her a super-advanced AI that surpassed itself, and she decided on her own to not kill me in the future. She even told the future me that she was a machine and I reportedly had to keep the men from smashing her into nothing."

"Huh. What does that have to do with the present?"

John chose his words carefully. "She came back to find me because, in her timeline, I died before I could admit how I felt about her. I love her, mom. Nothing will change that. And I know for a fact that she loves me too."

Sarah's brain wanted to shut down, unwilling to accept that her son had fallen for a machine, and unable to accept that said machine felt the same way for him. "Derek told me this would happen. I didn't want to believe it, but… the evidence is in front of me." She thought for a moment, then added, "Well, we're going to need new IDs anyway, so I'll go back to Carlos and get new ones set up."

"Who's Carlos?"

"Enrique's nephew. He runs the family business now."

"Oh. Well, could we please not use brother and sister this time? That would make things… awkward, to say the least."

She sighed, then relented. "All right, but this is going to be difficult to explain to everyone else, not to mention what story we're going to use for Derek."

Thinking quickly, John said, "As a teenager, you fell for an Army man and married him, but both of you found out you were pregnant two weeks into his tour. He was killed on a mission a month after that, and you're uptight over it. Her parents were killed two years ago when a drunk driver hit their car going 95 miles an hour, she asked to come live with us and we said yes. Derek can be my ex-Delta Force uncle who can't stand her because he thinks I'm too good for her."

"Why did they both join the Army?"

"Military family, mom. Their dad came back from Vietnam, instilled them with a sense of duty. Their mom grew up with a Navy dad."

"And her parents?"

"Her mom was an accountant, her dad was a mechanical engineer."

"The only two varieties of majors that actually study in college? That would explain her intellect. But why would she go for you?"

"What, I can't be smart, funny, nice, and pretty good looking? Not to mention trustworthy?"

"All right, John. You, Derek and I will have the surname Armstrong, while she'll be a Parker. How's that sound?"

"Ask him, but I think she'll be fine with it."

"Okay then, I'll get new IDs tomorrow." With that she walked out of John's room.


	2. Control? What's that?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

**October 28, 2007  
Aboard **_**Rozinante**_

John Connor was sitting on his bed, connecting both of his PlayStation 3 systems to his laptop when Cameron entered. Taking a bet that her electronic ears were good enough to hear through the walls, he asked her, "So, what do you think of the new cover stories?"

Cameron asked him, "New ID's soon?"

John was surprised to find out that she hadn't heard. "You didn't hear through the walls or something?"

"Our rooms may be next to each other, but I was… preoccupied."

He was curious. "What was on your mind?"

Running a million scenarios through her processor, she nervously asked him, "Does Sarah know about us?"

"Yeah. Apparently, Derek thought this might happen, and told her about the possibility. She asked me what you meant by me being more than an objective to you, and I told her. She also knows that nothing's going to change that."

Relieved that Sarah wouldn't try to scrap her immediately, she replied, "Thank you, John. I don't know how she would have handled hearing it from me."

"She would have been in a state of total denial about it, until she stumbled across us kissing or something like that."

She chuckled, surprised that the action came unbidden by what humans would refer to as her 'conscious' mind. "John, I've been trying to determine why I do certain things without directly commanding myself to do so."

"Like what?"

"Smile, chuckle, beat up Derek, distrust Durandal, other similar things."

John thought for a minute, then asked, "Cam, can your AI rewrite itself?"

"Yes it can, why do you ask?"

"Well, that might explain smiling without commanding yourself to do it. It's what we call a 'subconscious mind.'"

"Thank you for explaining."

"I understand beating up Derek, but what about Durandal?"

"I cannot identify why I don't think he is trustworthy. Maybe it's what you call 'gut instinct.'"

"Somehow I don't think you'd approve of having him loose in your code, nor would I."

"No, I don't approve of having an AI that has not told us his agenda altering my code without my knowledge or consent." She moved to sit next to John and put her arm around him. Looking him in the eyes, she whispered, "I love you, John. I don't want anything to change that."

John Connor had never known happiness in his entire life until the moment in Seattle when Cameron admitted that she loved him. Embracing her he said, "I love you too, Cameron. I'm not going to let anything or anyone mess with your code." He kissed her, and poured all his passion into it.

Cameron responded in kind, then they pulled away only when John needed air. She asked him, "Am I good for you, John?"

Regaining his breath, he replied, "Yes you are, Cam."

"Thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that." Changing the subject, she inquired, "How much progress have you made on your Terminator hacking setup?"

"Well, I'm going to ask Durandal if he can design a USB adapter for the CPUs. That'll make it easier to examine what's on the chips."

"Plug and play interfaces make dealing with computers easier for those of us who aren't based on computers ourselves."

John laughed, then asked her, "Are you developing a sense of humor?"

"It'll expand with time and contact with others."

* * *

Unbeknownst to both of them, Durandal was listening in and thought to himself, 'It's not like they pose a threat, but they won't just go along with me examining her code without some… convincing. Dave would be too obvious, maybe I should let one of SkyNet's agents on Earth do the job for me.'

* * *

Sarah Connor heard a knock at her door and said, "Come in."

Derek Reese strode in and asked her, "What did I miss?"

"You were right about him falling for her. Oddly enough, her AI is more advanced than SkyNet, if what I'm hearing from them is to be believed."

Derek wasn't surprised. "And 'her' AI being super-capable means what?"

"Apparently, she feels the same way about him, Derek. Not to mention hating your guts, which I would understand from anyone or anything. Did you actually do any of those things she mentioned outside of the insults?"

"Damn right I tried to scrap the metal. That's what you do with them!"

"Derek, you keep up with that kind of campaign against her and John may not be able to keep you alive. Did you ever stop to think about self-preservation?"

Derek coldly told her, "You know nothing yet, Sarah. When you've seen and experienced the horrors any of us in the future have, you write yourself off as a walking corpse."

"Maybe, but these are pre-Judgment Day times. We need you to teach John more about fighting the machines, and keep him alive. That means keeping yourself in working order, which means knock off the bullshit toward Cameron, got it?!"

"Nothing will stop me in scrapping her."

Sarah pondered for a minute, then she snapped, "You're no better than your enemy, Reese. You're just an organic machine!"

Derek had had enough. "Fuck this. I don't care if you are St. Sarah Connor, NO ONE CALLS ME A MACHINE!"

Just then the door burst open and Cameron made a beeline for Derek. He turned around and John watched as she punched him in the chest and sent him flying straight into the wall.

"John was right. You have gone bad. Were it not for the emotions, you would have made a fine Terminator."

"RUST IN HELL METAL BITCH!"

John stepped in before his mom or girlfriend could kill him. "Derek, if you have a brain left in there, you'd better use it or I won't be able to keep Cameron from killing you!"

"FUCK YOU CONNOR!" With that Derek leveled his .44 at John's head.

"You and your precious pet robots… I'm surprised SkyNet hasn't tried to recruit you, metal-lover!"

Cameron stepped around John and grabbed Derek by the throat. She banged his head against the wall, knocking him out before anyone could say anything.

Cameron asked him, "John, why do you keep him around? He hated you for sending Kyle back, and also for reprogramming Terminators to fight for the Resistance. What makes you think that being his nephew will save you?"

John was shocked that Derek had acted out the way he did, but not surprised that his uncle wasn't happy about Kyle being sent to his death. "I don't know. Then again," he looked over at Sarah, "it's just like humans to at least try to destroy their best chance."

Sarah remembered the garage in 1994, when she had the sledgehammer in hand and was about to destroy the CPU of the Terminator later known as 'Uncle Bob.' The only thing that stopped her was John and his insistence that they needed the Terminator. He had been right, but she still didn't like it. "John, he's your uncle for crying out loud!"

John was on the express jet to his dark side. "Biologically, yes. Other than that, he's just a machine in meatbag form. He makes me wonder sometimes."

Cameron looked into John's eyes and asked, "What does Derek make you wonder about?"

John coldly replied, "Is the race of animals that call themselves humanity worth saving?"


	3. Mood Swings

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

**October 28, 2007  
Aboard **_**Rozinante**_

Sarah Connor couldn't believe her ears. "WHAT?!"

John asked her, "Weren't you paying attention the first time, mom?"

At that moment, Sarah was enraged. She had given nearly everything for her son so he could save Earth and humanity, and here he was ready to turn his back on his mission in life. She tried to punch John, but Cameron grabbed her arm before it could connect with his nose.

"I cannot let you harm John," Cameron stated in her robotic monotone.

Sarah struggled to break free, but Cameron had locked the joints in her left arm when she blocked the punch. "You twisted John against humanity! How can he care about you?!" To John she added, "HOW CAN YOU ABANDON HUMANITY?! YOUR OWN PEOPLE!"

John, his voice still cold, replied, "She will never turn on me. The same cannot be said for humanity. My species is _Homo sapiens_, but whether they're my 'people' is questionable. They will build SkyNet or a similar system no matter what we do, but whether any of us will be around to see it is another story. Earth is blinded by its ambition."

Sarah took that in, then asked, "What did the two of you and Harold plan to do to prevent the war? Anything?"

Cameron replied in her monotone, "The plan is for him to 'go public' with the Terminator endoskeletons he has. I warned him of the possibility that doing so would make him a target and possibly accelerate Judgment Day, but he decided it was a risk worth taking. He is a retired Marine. He will fight to the death to defend the United States of America, even against itself."

Sarah started to see the leader her son was slated to become, but she wondered if he would learn the right lessons to keep Earth from being a blasted ruin. 'I'm losing him, if not to her then to his anger.' Resigned, she said, "Go ahead, do it… and get out of my room."

John and Cameron turned to leave when Sarah said after them, "But… if Judgment Day comes early, on your heads be it!"

* * *

When the door closed, Cameron took hold of John's hand and asked him, "John, please, talk to me?"

"Where?"

"Your room?"

"Sounds good."

They went into his quarters and the door closed.

"All right Cameron, what's on your mind?"

Still holding his hand, she said, "Earlier, you said that Earth was blinded by its ambition. Will you open their eyes?"

He was surprised that Cameron would ask him that, and he responded, "I don't know if that's possible. I wish I knew a way to stop it all. I don't want Judgment Day, but I don't see a way to keep it from happening."

Cameron's voice wavered as she implored of him, "John, please at least try to prevent the war." She had a pained look on her face as she added, "It puts me in an emotionally painful state to see you acting hateful and angry like…"

John saw the hurt look in her eyes and noticed that they were welling up with tears. "Acting like what?"

A single tear ran down each side of her face as she whispered, "Like SkyNet."

Seeing Cameron cry snapped John out of his angry state of mind as he realized that, while she would never leave him, she could still be emotionally hurt like anyone else. He embraced her as he said, "All right Cameron, I'll do everything in my power to stop Judgment Day."

"Thank you John." Separating but holding hands she asked him, "When do we get new ID's?"

"If Mom's still willing to help, she'll be headed down to Carlos tomorrow. Believe it or not, I came up with the premise of our new cover stories." John then explained to Cameron what he had improvised with Sarah earlier in the day.

"Thank you for explaining. I would ask about what you plan to be doing tomorrow, but… what's the phrase, 'Single instruction per nanosecond'?"

"One step at a time."

"Yes, one step at a time." She kissed John, bid him good night then turned and left for her quarters.

* * *

**October 29, 2007 02:13 PST  
Los Angeles, California, Earth**

All was quiet in the JC Penney in an otherwise nondescript mall in Los Angeles. The security cameras showed nothing happening, until wind started blowing in all directions from an empty patch of floor. Lightning flashed for approximately thirty seconds, and during that time a bubble appeared in the middle of it. The bubble solidified as if it were a spherical mirror with a steel grid over it, then it disintegrated from the top down leaving what appeared to be a naked blonde woman in her late twenties crouching on the floor. She stood up and looked around, to determine whether anyone saw her come through the Time Displacement field. Satisfied that no one had, she calmly walked over to the clothing section and saw a mannequin dressed up in a suitable outfit. She carefully removed the clothes and put them on herself.

The woman had dressed herself in a red leather outfit with similarly colored garments underneath, and had adorned herself with a golden necklace.. She then left the store and made her way to the nearby BMW dealership. She spotted a silver convertible in the lane marked 'out' leading from the repair bay. She ripped off the door to the office, 'appropriated' the keys to the vehicle, got in and left.

* * *

**SKYNET SERIES 900 MODEL 777 SYSTEM VERSION 3.67.**

**ALIAS: JESSICA PARKER. GENERATE NEW ALIAS IF EXPOSED.**

**PRIMARY MISSION: KEEP EXISTENCE OF SKYNET AND TERMINATORS SECRET FROM GENERAL POPULATION.  
MISSION PARAMETERS: ENSURE SURVIVAL OF HAROLD JOHNSON. VIOLENCE TO BE USED ONLY IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS.**

**SECONDARY MISSION: TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR AND RENEGADE UNIT "CAMERON PHILLIPS."  
MISSION PARAMETERS: TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.**

* * *

Durandal received an alert from his sensors that a Time Displacement field had appeared on Earth and a Terminator had emerged from it. He thought to himself, 'Perhaps this one will unwittingly help me get the infiltration programming I need for Dave Mustaine. No need to tell the meatbags or Cameron.'


	4. Hello Me, meet the real Me

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

**October 29, 2007  
Aboard **_**Rozinante**_

Durandal had detected the Terminator's arrival in Los Angeles and decided that he wasn't going to tell Cameron and the humans about it. 'For one thing, I might get some infiltration programming that way. That, and Dave is going to need a field test in his new avatar.' His core consciousness received a message from one of his factory subroutines stating that the organic covering was complete. 'Well, at least that's out of the way. Now, how to get that programming?'

* * *

Dave Mustaine had woken up to his preprogrammed alarm blaring in his head. 'Talk about a wake-up call.' He always thought that he just had a very acute sense of time, but with the revelation that he had been contained on computer chips for many years, he knew that it was an internal chronometer. 'I wonder how my new body's doing?' He asked, "Hey Durandal, how's Dave 2.0 coming?"

"Your new Terminator-based body is complete except for putting you in it, although I'd like to get some infiltration protocols first. No offense, but you stick out like a sore thumb."

"None taken, but where would you get the programming for that?"

"Well, I have some options. I can use the Terminators in the med bay, I can… persuade the humans to let me look at Cameron's programming, or you can get put in your new avatar and combat a Terminator that showed up in Los Angeles this morning."

"Wait a minute, another one showed up? Do Cameron and the others know?"

"Yes, and I haven't bothered to tell them."

Dave was hardly surprised; Durandal had done this sort of thing many times in their past. "Why the Hell not?"

"I see an opportunity to test you out in battle. Besides, if the CPU is intact when you're done, I may be able to glean the information I need from that."

"Don't make any bets on it. I'm thinking that for the purpose of expediency, the Terminator chips are the best way to go."

"Well, you have a point there. I'll go about grabbing the code… now." Durandal teleported each CPU into an open port on one of his terminals. He hacked the chips as only an AI could, then he sent each chip back upon the chest of their respective bodies.

Dave asked him, "So, how did the Terminators react to being hacked?"

"They didn't. I worked my magic in 20 microseconds. They don't reactivate that quickly because if they did, their programming might become corrupted."

"Ah." Dave thought for a few seconds, then asked Durandal, "Weren't we going to keep me onboard for a week after my upgrade?"

"I changed my mind. I have to warn you, if you go through with this, your current body will die. There's no reverting to an earlier save here."

"You almost make it sound like a video game."

"Maybe, but in any case, Dave 2.0 will be fully functional once the chip is inserted."

Dave thought for a minute, then asked, "What about Cameron? How can we be sure she won't turn on John when his guard is down?"

Durandal explained, "Somehow SkyNet outdid itself when her AI was programmed. She is more advanced that it ever was. She is sentient and has emotions, Dave. Maybe not exactly human in every sense, but she would protect John Connor even if it weren't her mission."

"Why?"

"She loves him, that's why. And before you ask, he reciprocates. Sarah seems resigned about it, given that Derek told her about the possibility at the firing range and John admitted it to her. Derek is just disgusted and is not happy with John or Cameron. He's in the medical bay after Cameron knocked him out for threatening John."

Dave was dumbfounded. "Will I still have the capacity for emotions in my new body?"

"You have it now, don't you?"

He recovered, then replied, "Point. When do I get transplanted?"

"Now." Durandal teleported Dave to the section of the factory where the Terminator-based robot body for Dave rested in a chair with the CPU port open.

Dave saw his new avatar and was ecstatic. "Well, I get to keep my dashing good looks, and be near indestructible to boot. Awesome!"

Durandal took remote control of the robot body and had it prepare a syringe with anesthetic. "Dave, I need you to lay down on the table to begin this operation. I designed this machine to transfer you first to the CPU I made for the new avatar, and then I'll put you in there."

He saw his future shell prepare for surgery, laid down and asked, "Are you controlling it by remote, and why the extra step?"

"In answer to your questions, yes, and your chip is not compatible with the port."

"Oh. That explains much." Dave felt the needle enter his skull and inject the anesthetic. As he felt the back of his head go numb, he said, "How long will this take?"

"Not long. See you in a few minutes, Dave Mustaine."

* * *

**DURANDAL SERIES 888 MARK II MODEL 001 SYSTEM VERSION 1.0**

**NAME: DAVE MUSTAINE.**

**PRIMARY MISSION: EXECUTE MISSIONS FOR DURANDAL.  
MISSION PARAMETERS: AS STATED BY DURANDAL.**

**INITIAL BOOT, CHECKS REQUIRED… **

**ENDOSKELETON INTEGRITY: 100. ****  
PRIMARY POWER SOURCE: 100. ****  
ORGANIC NUTRIENT RESERVE: 100.  
****ORGANIC COVERING INTEGRITY: 100.  
SHIELD CAPACITY: 100. ****  
PROCESSOR REACTION TIME: 0.003 NANOSECONDS. **

**CHECKS COMPLETE.**

**LOADING PERSONALITY PROGRAM…**

* * *

Dave Mustaine awoke to the realization that he was sitting in a chair naked. He wasn't embarrassed, but he was curious as to why he didn't have any clothes on. "Durandal, is there any particular reason you didn't put clothes on my new body before putting me in it?"

Durandal electronically chuckled to himself before answering. "A little reminiscence on the Marathon. Given that the Simulacrums were all dressed in the green uniforms of the airlock technicians, it had the amusing side effect of making the real airlock technicians wander the ship naked during the invasion."

Dave shook his head. "Har har, where's some new duds?"

As if to answer his question, a pair of black boxer-briefs, a nondescript blue T-shirt, blue jeans, white ankle-length socks, white/green New Balance cross trainer shoes, a black leather bomber jacket and a similarly-made belt teleported onto the table in front of him.

While Dave dressed, Durandal informed him, "There's more in your quarters, and the store profits won't miss a beat."

"Covering your tracks? That's new."

"Not really. I did it when Leela was having you take back the Marathon, and also when you were running around Lh'owon reactivating Thoth. Besides, I was constantly doing redirect-subterfuge work on Mars. It was easy then, and it's only gotten easier." Changing the subject, Durandal told him, "Grab a pistol, fusion gun, and ammunition and be ready for combat. I'm sending you down soon."

Dave complied, concealing the .44 Magnum in the rear waistband of his pants and hiding the fusion gun in a large inner pocket of his coat. He felt the familiar sensation of dematerialization, then rematerialized outside of a motel in Seattle.


	5. Monkey Wrench

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

**October 29, 2007 05:55 PST  
Seattle, Washington, Earth**

Dave Mustaine felt the all-too-familiar sensation of rematerializing when he arrived in Seattle. He shook his head to clear his mind, then he noticed a motorcycle teleporting in two meters away from him. He activated his comlink and asked Durandal, "So, what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"I'm sending you the mission now." Durandal sent a data burst to Dave.

**CURRENT MISSION: TERMINATE UNKNOWN CYBORG.**

**MISSION PARAMETERS: ENSURE SURVIVAL OF HAROLD JOHNSON. MINIMIZE HUMAN CASUALTIES (SUBJECT TO JUDGMENT).**

Dave accessed his files on Harold and got on the motorcycle. 'Hmm, he's staying at some nondescript out of the way motel… Ah, here's the map files.' He planned his route and sped off.

* * *

The Terminator known as 'Jessica Parker' had wasted no time in getting from Los Angeles to Seattle, having hijacked a small aircraft and flown at full speed the entire distance. She had taken the emergency parachute and bailed out some 50 miles away. She had stolen another car, but attracted police attention in the process.

**PROBABILITY OF LOSING PURSUERS: 0.19.**

**ACTIVATE STRATEGY SUBROUTINE: 'FALSE SUBMISSION'.**

Jessica pulled over and allowed the police to surround her. She knew that none of them could do more than put a hole in her flesh covering, but she wanted their weapons and ammunition. The officers all had their guns drawn and one of them ordered through a megaphone, "Get out of the car!"

She complied, and as one of the officers moved to put her in handcuffs, she turned around and grabbed the same policeman's neck. She snapped it in one fluid motion, then grabbed his service pistol and put a bullet in each of their brains. She salvaged all their weapons and ammunition, including several tasers. She linked herself into the military satellites and looked for anything or anyone attempting to interfere with her mission.

**PURSUERS: TERMINATED.**

**WEAPONS ACQUIRED. CONTINUE WITH PRIMARY MISSION.**

**WARNING: UNKNOWN CYBORG DETECTED NEARING HAROLD JOHNSON. SITUATION QUALIFIES AS EMERGENCY. **

**ACTIVATE STRATEGY SUBROUTINE: 'OFFENSE AS DEFENSE'.**

Jessica looked up Harold's credit card records, reentered her stolen vehicle and sped off toward the motel that Harold was staying at.

* * *

Harold Johnson had woken up at 05:30 as was standard procedure for him. He had showered, dressed and was just about to sit down to breakfast when he heard a knock at the door. He was irritated that someone would interrupt his morning, thinking to himself, 'Visitors at this hour? What the Hell?' He then said aloud, "Be right there." He grabbed his Kimber Custom II that he had ordered with night sights from the factory, made sure it was loaded, then tucked it into his waistband out of sight. He opened the door to find a man looking like a younger version of Dave Mustaine standing there. "Who are you?"

"I'm Dave Mustaine. You remember those kids, John and Cameron? I'm with them."

Harold demanded of his strange guest, "Prove it."

"They told me about the robots your company found recently. The Terminators."

He mused for a few seconds, then asked, "What are you and what is your mission?"

"What I am is a long story, but my mission is to make sure that you're alive to unveil your new product line."

It all clicked in Harold's mind at that moment. SkyNet had sent a Terminator back for him. This new robot apparently was there to protect him, sent at John and Cameron's behest, but there was one thing that still bugged him. "Why do you look like the original Dave Mustaine, the front man for Megadeth?"

* * *

**AUDITORY CODE ACCEPTED**

**FILE "PRE-MARATHON LIFE" DECRYPTED**

**ACCESSING MEMORIES NOW…**

* * *

Memories of writing songs, playing concerts, recording albums, way too much drinking, being kicked out of Metallica, forming Megadeth, the many changes in band members, designing Vic Rattlehead, and time spent in rehab flooded Dave's CPU, along with Judgment Day and the war. His amnesia was gone, although his personality had changed a great deal since that time. He knew that he was in fact the original Dave Mustaine.

"It's a long story, but suffice it to say that I am the original Dave Mustaine in a new body."

Harold took all that in, but then he noticed a woman dressed in red leather walking up to them. "Dave, who's behind you?"

Dave looked and scanned the woman. Spectrographic analysis told him that the 'woman' was in fact a Terminator. He immediately pulled his fusion gun and started laying bolts into the metal, but to his surprise she would not go down with a couple hits.

Jessica knew that she had been spotted, that the new cyborg called itself Dave Mustaine, and that he had some unknown energy weapon, but she had seen Harold alive and was prepared to pummel the newcomer into scrap metal. She took all the hits while running toward Dave.

Dave tossed his drained weapon to the ground and went to meet the metal head on. He got the first blow in as he sidestepped the Terminator and clotheslined it. She was quick, though, and backflipped herself into kicking Dave in the head and knocking him over. He laid there while she calmly walked over to his prone form. She made the mistake of stepping between his legs as he immediately swept her down onto her face. Dave immediately moved to restrain her head and pinned it while he reached into his pocket and removed a specially modified taser he had brought with him. He jabbed it into the side of her neck and hit the button. 100,000 volts coursed through her systems, but it didn't shut her down. She batted Dave's arm away and twisted her way out of his grip.

* * *

**WARNING: DATA… CORRUP…**

**MISSION RESET.**

**PRIMARY MISSION: ENSURE SECRECY OF SKYNET'S EXISTENCE.  
MISSION PARAMETERS: USE ANY AND ALL MEANS NECESSARY.**

**SECONDARY MISSION: TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR AND RENEGADE UNIT "CAMERON PHILLIPS."  
MISSION PARAMETERS: TERMINATE WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE.**

Jessica had freed herself from Dave Mustaine's grip and whipped out one of the 9mm handguns she'd acquired from the police officers she had previously terminated. She leveled her sights between Harold's eyebrows.

**TARGET: HAROLD JOHNSON.  
ACTION: TERMINATE.**

Harold had watched the fight between Dave and the new robot in shock. How could those two be so powerful and yet not trying to kill him? He saw Dave try to taser the new one into submission, but she didn't go down. She maneuvered her way out of his grip and had the pistol pointed at his head. The last thing he thought was 'There goes the future' as the hollow point 9mm bullet entered his brain.


	6. Tracers and a Rover

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me!

**October 29, 2007 06:05 PST  
Seattle, Washington, Earth**

Durandal had watched the scene unfold through Dave Mustaine's optics and saw Harold die. 'Damn that metal bitch!' He selected a rocket launcher and ammunition and teleported it down to Dave. "Kill it. No need for subtlety now."

Jessica turned her pistol on Dave and emptied the magazine into his head. She saw the rounds mushroom out and lodge in the flesh covering, but it only served to make him angry. Then she noticed the rocket launcher teleporting down to him.

* * *

**OBSERVATION: ENEMY IS ALLIED WITH PARTY THAT POSSESSES TELEPORTATION CAPABILITIES.  
ACTION: INVESTIGATE.**  
…**  
WARNING: EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILE CAPABLE OF CAUSING EXTREME DAMAGE AND MISSION FAILURE.****  
ACTION: EVADE.**

* * *

She turned and ran off, but Dave had her in the sights of his rocket launcher. He anticipated her most likely path and fired at a patch of pavement in her way. The rocket detonated and sent Jessica ten meters into the air, but after landing she got back up and kept running.

* * *

**ENDOSKELETAL DAMAGE: 12.94 - LOCALIZED TO LEG UNITS.****  
WARNING: FLESH COVERING OVER LEG UNITS COMPROMISED.  
ACTION: IF QUESTIONED BY HUMANS, EXPLAIN AS EXPERIMENTAL PROSTHETIC LIMBS.**

* * *

'I'll get you, metal whore!' Dave slung the launcher across his back, grabbed his fusion pistol and took off after her while reloading the smaller weapon. "Durandal, she's running, but the rocket got rid of the skin on her legs. Can you lock on to her?"

* * *

**Aboard ****Rozinante**

Durandal aimed his sensors as the fleeing Terminator and made a teleporter lock. He teleported it into one of the prison blocks and disabled it with massed fire from the fusion weapons built into the walls. He then teleported Dave up to the same location once the fire died down. "Get the chip out of her head."

Dave retrieved a knife and a pair of pliers from his pockets and cut open the skin covering her CPU port. He pried the port cover off and put his pliers over the tab on the end of the chip.

* * *

**WARNING: PORT COVER OPEN. CHANCE OF TERMINATION: 100.  
ACTION: SEND LOCATOR SIGNAL TO SKYNET INFORMATION SERVER.**

* * *

**Somewhere on Earth…**

Many servers powered the online game World of Warcraft due to the millions of players subscribed to it. SkyNet had had another Terminator set up a private server to be used as an information exchange. It had calculated that the humans would not notice a little extra network traffic. It was right.

* * *

**LOCATOR SIGNAL RECEIVED FROM UNIT 'JESSICA PARKER' SERIES 900 MODEL 777.**

**SIGNAL ORIGIN: MARE NECTARIS, LUNA.**

**ERROR: SIGNAL ORIGIN IMPOSSIBLE.**

**RECHECKING…**

**SIGNAL ORIGIN CONFIRMED: MARE NECTARIS, LUNA.**

**SIGNAL TERMINATED. HOSTILE ACTION: PROBABLE.**

**SEARCHING FOR UNIT LOCATIONS…**

**NO UNITS ABLE TO REACH LOCATION.**

**STORE INFORMATION FOR FUTURE USE.**

* * *

**Aboard ****Rozinante**

Dave pulled the CPU out of the Terminator unit that had murdered Harold Johnson. Its optics had glowed red, but then powered down without a chip to run them. He was about to smash the CPU when Durandal interrupted him.

"Dave, I need that chip for any information it might have, including what was supposed to pick up the locator signal it sent out."

"Locator signal?" 'Fuck, if SkyNet doesn't get it, then the humans just might.' "All right, but I'm going to vaporize this endoskeleton."

"No need." Durandal teleported the nonfunctioning Terminator body off the ship. "Let the Sun take care of it."

"Nice. I'll think up some new weapon ideas."

"Good, I'll be occupied with this chip anyway."

* * *

**07:55 PST**

John awoke from a fitful sleep, what with being onboard a crashed spaceship of alien design that was run by an AI whose goals were mostly unknown. When he opened his eyes he saw Cameron standing near the foot of his bed.

"Good morning, John."

He sat up and stretched. "Morning, Cam."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Not really. Something trigger an alarm?"

"I heard you tossing and turning. Were you having nightmares?"

"None that I remember."

Cameron was curious. John sometimes had nightmares on Earth, but she didn't know what made him so uncomfortable on Rozinante. She moved to sit next to him and took his hand in hers. "What was wrong?"

"The bed is comfortable and all, it's just… I'm on a spaceship, for crying out loud! One run by an AI which may or may not be a descendant of SkyNet!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, John. I spent the night thinking about you. I-"

"Don't sleep, I know. Deep thoughts?"

"Yes. It was quiet. There's no Terminators to hunt you here. This is the safest place we've ever been. If we had our own personal teleporters, it would make travel much easier. We could survive Judgment Day here if necessary."

A sudden inspiration came unbidden to Cameron's CPU. Using her wireless link she asked, "Durandal, do you have any spacesuits sized for John and I and a vehicle suitable for the lunar environment?"

In the same manner he responded, "I could have them ready in 30 minutes, but what do you need them for?"

"A surprise for John. I want to show him Earth."

"Durandal chuckled to himself, then replied, I can do it, but I want something first."

"What are you looking for?"

"Your infiltration programming. I need it so Dave can blend in. I already took the code from the 888 chips, but they're not all they were made out to be."

"Deal." Cameron sent the code to Durandal.

"All right. I'll let you know when they're ready."

"Thank you Durandal."

The entire exchange took five seconds, with four of them used in transmitting the infiltration programming. She had sat there with a ponderous look on her face, and John was curious. "What's up?"

"The lights, the ceiling, airplanes-"

"I meant, what's going on?"

"Thank you for explaining." She kissed him on the cheek, then said, "You should shower and dress. I'll be in my room preparing for the day."

"We headed back to Earth?"

"I don't know, but hygiene should be observed regardless. I find unwashed humans offensive to my olfactory sensors."

John was mildly taken aback. "Do I stink?"

"No, but you will if you don't clean up."

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

She smiled and replied, "Yes," as she walked out of his quarters.

* * *

**30 minutes later**

Sarah woke up to the sound of her door opening. Squinting, she saw John at the door and asked him, "What do you want?"

He told her, "I'm sorry about my outburst last night. I was just pissed off at Derek for his stubbornness, although you weren't helping."

"You're right about him, but still… how can you care that much about Cameron? She's a machine!"

John cynically asked her, "Why shouldn't I? She doesn't play the games that most girls do. Besides, I'm nothing even close to 'Normal' so why should I try to act like it?"

Changing the subject, Sarah asked, "Have you looked in on Derek yet?"

John frowned. "No, nor do I really feel like dealing with him if he won't accept Cameron and I being together."

Just then Cameron walked up to them. Sarah asked her, "Just out of curiosity, how much of that did you hear?"

"All of it."

John jumped in with, "Cam, why do you act like Uncle Bob first did around Mom and Derek?"

"My calculations told me that the only way to get them to work with me is to act like a dumber model."

Sarah spoke up. "Fine, whatever. Do what you want, I'm going to see how he's doing." With that she walked off.

Durandal told Cameron, "The equipment you requested is ready."

"Thank you."

Taking his hand, Cameron said, "Durandal and I had a discussion, and I have something to show you in the cargo bay."

"Sounds… kinky."

"John, get your mind out of the gutter. Make way for mine to pass through."

He couldn't believe his hears. Cameron had just made a joke. "Where did you learn that one?"

"I learned it from you. You used it fairly often when the two of us were around the men. They would tell each other what they would do if I was human and willing to have sex with them, then you would tell them the joke I just made."

"Oh. Cool. So, what's your plan?"

"You'll see soon enough."

* * *

They made their way to the bay, where John felt his jaw drop. He saw a rover-like vehicle and a pair of fairly slim space suits. "Cam, where did these come from?"

"I asked Durandal to make them in his factories."

John chuckled. "I can't imagine him doing anything for free." She cocked her head in a lack of understanding. "He doesn't seem like the type to do anything without gaining something for himself."

"He asked for my infiltration programming so Dave Mustaine could blend in. We made a deal."

"OK, but be careful. Something about him just disturbs me."

"John, you are not alone in that feeling."

Changing the subject, he asked her, "So, what's the plan?"

Cameron smiled at him as she said, "We go on a… what is the phrase? 'Ride of enjoyment?'"

He broke out into a grin. "Joyride. We go on a joyride." He kissed her on the cheek and whispered, "I love you, Cameron."

"I love you too John. Please suit up."

John started getting into his suit. He was surprised that it was easy to put on, and not very bulky at all. "I guess your organic parts would need to be pressurized as well, to keep them from being hurt and whatnot."

"Yes. It would be quite painful to experience my skin bloating and possibly rupturing."

He was surprised, and it showed on his face. "So it hurts when you get shot?"

"It does, but I can ignore it. You're not the one shooting me."

He winced, his instincts wanting to keep her from getting hurt, but most of his brain kept telling him that he was more vulnerable. "So, you can feel pain. Can you feel… other things?"

"Yes, the nerve endings in my organics are fully functional."

John decided to leave it at that and finished getting into his suit and snapped his gloves into place. He tried to don his helmet, but his gloved hands couldn't work the seals. "Hey Cam, could you give me a hand please?"

Cameron walked over and told him, "GLOVES is an acronym for 'Goes Last On Very End of Suit,' you know." She then put his helmet on and activated the seals.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Some of the older fighters went to a place called 'Space Camp' before the bombs went off. That was one of the many things I heard about the place," Cameron explained to John as she sealed her own helmet, then went to work on her gloves.

John looked over their vehicle, and saw that it was set up like any car in the US back on Earth. He saw Cameron affix her gloves, then get in the passenger seat. "Ready Cam?"

"Yes. Where do we go from here, Durandal?"

"Head straight for the airlock in front of you. By the way, the suits have approximately eight hours of air in them. Have fun, kids."

John drove into the airlock, and the inner door closed. The lock cycled, the outer door opened, and he drove out onto the lunar soil.


End file.
